Senators gut bill to allow some guns on Louisiana campuses

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE

May. 16, 2018

A Senate judicial committee gutted the proposal , removing the portion that would have allowed armed civilians at schools.

Instead, lawmakers rewrote the bill to allow people with concealed carry permits to have their firearms up to the edge of a school campus.

Sen. Neil Riser, a Republican who handled the bill, pledged not to undo the changes. With that promise, senators voted 3-2 to send the measure to the full Senate. If approved there, the House would have to decide whether to accept the changes.

Also Tuesday, the House voted 82-6 to exempt students wearing bulletproof backpacks from the state's ban on body armor on school property. Rep. Nancy Landry, a Republican who carried the bill , says parents will feel safer if their children could have the bulletproof backpacks.

The Senate has already passed the backpack proposal but must accept minor amendments before the bill is sent to the office of the governor, who is expected to sign the bill into law.

About two dozen gun bills were filed this year, most of them after 17 people were killed in an attack on a Florida high school in February. Democrats have been proposing gun restrictions, while Republicans advocate for loosening firearm rules. Most of the measures have been unsuccessful.